Teachers' unions trained educators to 'indoctrinate' students with 'radical progressive ideology': Report

An August report from the Defense of Freedom Institute, a conservative nonprofit organization, revealed that teachers' unions trained their members to "indoctrinate" students with "radical progressive ideology" despite outspoken opposition from parents.

DFI's latest report, "Summer of Woke, The Sequel," follows a 2022 report that exposed the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers for pushing "racialized" school policies and gender ideology. Last year's report also accused the NEA and AFT of lobbying for abortion.

According to the DFI, the 2022 report drummed up negative press for the NEA, leading it to take steps to "conduct its 'New Business Items' in secret" during its annual meeting this year.

The nonprofit accused the NEA, the nation's largest teachers' union, of being "out of step with the public regarding policy goals" and hypersensitive to criticism.

"It is wholly inappropriate for an organization that receives the benefits of a congressionally granted federal charter to hide from the public its activities at what it deems is '[t]he world's largest democratic, deliberative body,'" the report stated.

In this year's report, the DFI found that the teachers' unions are still committed to pushing "radical" gender ideology in schools across the nation, despite opposing legislation.

"Both major teacher unions have falsely ascribed homophobia and transphobia to the parental rights movement, which they recognize as an existential threat to their power over public education, in an effort to keep sexually explicit books in school libraries and classrooms and block legislation to prohibit teachers from discussing gender identity issues and sexuality with elementary school students," DFI's report said.

According to the nonprofit, the NEA hosted a "Freedom to Learn" rally, bashing Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' so-called "extremist" parental rights policies. The union misleadingly referred to the governor's Parental Rights in Education Act as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

Missouri's legislation banning educators from teaching children about gender ideology was deceptively called "anti-LGBTQ+" by the NEA, the DFI reported.

The teachers' union also released an "LGBTQ+ toolkit" with a "Pronoun Guide" that encouraged educators to share their pronouns with other members.

"The guide notes that such pronoun policies may not be welcome in schools based on state and local policies, but it advises NEA members to follow the guide in intra-union communications," the DFI found.

According to the nonprofit, the AFT "coached its members on how to inject gender identity politics into classroom teaching" during a Together Educating America's Children conference in July.

"Sessions at the TEACH Conference included 'Affirming LGBTQIA+ Identities in and out of the Classroom' and 'The TGNCNB [transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary] Inclusive School and Classroom,'" the report stated.

"The latter session's description argues that '[c]isnormativity,' the assumption that people's gender identity matches their biological sex, 'can be limiting for TGNCNB…and cisgender folks alike,'" it added.

The DFI accused the teachers' unions of having a clear mission to "train teachers to affirm every gender identity that conflicts with a student's sex, ignore basic biological facts, hide the training from parents, and shape school policies to force others to do the same."

Neither the NEA nor the AFT responded to a request for comment, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

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